18
Human Rights Issue
“It is not the virus that will kill us,
IT’S HUNGER!”
China, Italy, Korea and the U.S. made for useful case studies for a Covid-19 crash course. So we learn from those who walked this way ahead of us…
PEOPLE DYNAMICS | March - April 2020
BY: PEOPLE DYNAMICS CORRESPONDENT
T
he current context of the COVID-19 lockdown means that the state has suspended certain freedoms, in terms of the Disaster Act, which materially impacts on many people’s ability to make the money with which to buy food. So far, South Africa has received praise from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the way the country has responded to the threatening and decimating virus. The effects of a relatively early lockdown seem to paying off, judging from the ratio of infections to deaths. Asked how come Gauteng province with the highest number of infections recorded a remarkably low number of fatalities, the Health MEC attributed it to the fact that most of those afflicted happen to be from the affluent sectors of the economy, and have been able to recover. Successful recovery has been linked to a multiple of factors – which also help deter new infections and symptoms. The more obvious factor is a sound constituency or immune system of the infected person. This is followed by adherence to recommended health-safety measures, including maintaining good hygiene and avoiding compounding infections. The matter of isolation has also been regarded as a positive factor in “slowing the upward curve” for
